It was while working as a guide on a breast cancer fundraising bike ride across the southern states of the US that Lisa Burd found her path. One of the Aussie riders had a handycam. “Flash in those days”, she laughs – and handed it to Lisa to use.
Lights camera Lisa
“I turned it on and just started asking this woman questions,” recalls Lisa, then 28.
“I’ll never forget the way her face and demeanour changed as she just shared her life. I was blown away. It was a light-bulb moment. I had finally found something that came naturally.”
She returned home – “I was a dreadful bike mechanic anyway!” – and completed a South Seas Film School course. Which started her successful career in the film industry. Over the years, Lisa, now 54, has worked on diverse shows. Including One News, Suzy’s World with Suzy Cato, Real Housewives Of Auckland, The Amazing Race Australia V New Zealand and Life Flight, following the Wellington helicopter medical crew.
“That was the hardest show,” she admits.
“You’d have nothing happening, then suddenly the siren goes and you’re running, putting the GoPros on everyone, the sound on the camera, headphones and a big helmet that weighs a heap. It didn’t help that I got motion-sick in the helicopter! “Here were these really unwell people having the worst days of their lives and I’m there looking as green as anything, pointing a camera at them! It was a privileged insight into the life of a paramedic and helped them raise awareness to fundraise.”
From stars to sound gear
She did a few seasons as a field producer on Dancing With The Stars. Working alongside Sir Paul Holmes and Suzanne Paul.
“I remember being a little bit scared of Paul as he had a reputation of being the tough guy who did the hard interviews, but he was a really nice guy… and the worst dancer! “There was a decision to
get him to dance to Michael Jackson’s Thriller – if you can’t dance, let’s distract! He was a great sport, as was Suzanne, who showed admirable grit and determination.”
Lisa and the team she worked for won a Qantas Media Award for her work on the Whakaata Māori show Pepi. Which saw her film the lives of young mums in their first year of motherhood.
“It was just me and them – I did sound, camera and interviewing,” she shares.
“I was thrown into the deep end, but I loved it, and it gave me the confidence that I could go out and do my own projects.”
Lisa’s lens on life
Of all her work, it’s understandable that it’s her own films Lisa’s most proud of. They include The Pinkies Are Back, about a dragon-boat team made up of breast cancer survivors, Monterey, about the goings-ons at her then-local Auckland café over a year, and Changing Gear, which saw her go back to where she started, with a 30,000km bike ride across the US. She also directed Let’s Talk About Sex.
No Tears On The Field, her fifth documentary, has just had its world release. In it, Lisa follows a young women’s rugby team in Taranaki. Showing the girls at the rugby club, on the field and at home – which, for many of them, is a dairy farm. She was also stoked to get a sit-down interview with local hero, Olympic gold medallist Michaela Blyde and her parents (Michaela’s mum was a Black Fern too).
Film and fight
The film was Lisa’s hardest yet. Pinning down busy teenage girls or a reticent dairy-farmer dad/coach was no easy feat, and she spent hundreds of hours planning, travelling and filming the girls over a
few years. But the sweat and tears were worth it. Lisa’s proud of the final result and the fact the film was nominated in five categories of the Doc Edge Awards, including best feature and director.
There’s a clear theme in the focus of Lisa’s film work – her documentaries are always about underdogs. It could be, she admits, because she’s always identified with that.
“I think because I’m little and softly spoken,” she muses.
“I’ve been underestimated over the years, so I definitely identify as being an underdog. “A teacher at school told me, ‘You should just be a check-out chick,’ and I thought, ‘I’ll show you.’ I have a quiet determination and I’m coming into my own more now than I ever have.”
Truth told gently
It’s actually Lisa’s gentle manner and soft presence that allow her subjects to open up and be vulnerable.
“I just manage to connect with people in a natural way,” she laughs.
“Right from way back, when I worked in my dad’s pub, I would chat to all the locals who would prop the bar up. “I’m genuinely curious about people, so when we’re talking, they can see I’m really listening. I’m engaged. I get their trust, then they feel safe to share. “Interviewing people about their lives and stories is a privilege. I always want the people I interview to feel that I have told their
story authentically.”
No Tears On The Field screens as part of the Doc Edge Festival in Wellington on 21 July, Christchurch on 23 July and Stratford on 28 July. For info, visit docedge.nz.
